My upcomming layout will not be big enough for me to justifiy going out and spending the money on a DCC system, so I’m planning on using basic plane jane cab control with a walk around throttle. Can I still use the sound systems that came installed on some of my steam locomotives?
It depends. You can if they are dual mode decoders, but you will only have access to 2 sounds. Bell and Whistle. I would get DCC just for the sake of getting full use out of your sound decoders. A digitrax zephyr (what I use) will run you about $150 and is a full package. Everything you need.
If I do go with DCC, can I still run locomotives that don’t have decoders in them?
You can run one non-decoder loco at a time with the Zephyr by setting it to adress 00. An analog loco will run but it makes a whining noise because the DC motor is getting AC power.
thanks for the help. how bad is the whine, is it untolerable? I’ve got two steam locomotives without decoders (and I’m not even sure how to go about installing them) that I love , and 4 with. It’ll probably be the better investment to just go and buy and install DCC.
The whining isnt all that loud. but it will drown out some of the sound from the sound engines. It is very annoying however. Make sure you have a bottle of aspirin handy for headaches[:P]
The whine depends on the motor. But it is noticable, and I find it very annoying. I would pony up the bucks and get an entry level DCC, and a couple inexpensive decoders. Your LHS should be able to point you in the right direction and help you install the decoders.
Nick
You may want to check into all the advantages of using DCC before building/ wiring your layout. Even a small layout with a min of blocks requires double wiring for each additional cab to each block. DCC eliminates all of this extra wiring, don’t forget about toggles to control yard tracks, engine stalls as well. The additional cost of using DCC will pay off in the long run.
Bob K.
Broadway Limited and ALL unit’s with QSI sound will work on 'plain ‘DC’
Some Atlas engines with ‘dual mode’ decoder’s will run on either DC or DCC -when set for them - but don’t have sound.
Product’s combining DCC and sound (Soundtraxx) modules ONLY work on DCC.
New product’s? You’ll have to read the labels
If you are creating a new layout or are doing a major rebuild of an old one, now is the time to go DCC if you are ever interested in sound and running more than one train by yourself at a time (correct that. If you really want to be able to run the train and not the track). How difficult it would be to retrofit a decoder in an older loco depends very much on the loco. You could post back on the actual locos that you have, and I’m sure some of the DCC gurus will chime in with needed info for you.
I don’t think you would ever regret going with DCC once you use it.
i’ve got an older mantua 4-6-0 rogers, and a roundhouse 4-4-0. plus several other roundhouse locomotives that haven’t been built yet (i’m debating whether or not i’m going to build them). thanks for the help.